1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system whereby an advertiser can view the eyeball appearance from a motorist's perspective of an outdoor ad space with the advertiser being located remote of the outdoor ad space.
2. Background of the Prior Art
Outdoor ad spaces, such as billboards, bus benches, bus stops, etc., are an effective advertising medium for many types of goods and services. The large signs, which may be either static or dynamic, are observed by a relatively captive audience of passing motorists that reliably drive by daily.
Typically, when a salesperson is seeking to sell outdoor ad space to a prospective client, the salesperson speaks in the number of vehicles that pass by the outdoor ad space at issue, such vehicle counts typically obtained from the state's transportation department or other sources. Knowing approximately how many vehicles pass by the outdoor ad space on a daily or weekly basis, the client is able to make an informed decision as to the value obtained by renting space on the outdoor ad space.
Although knowing approximately how many eyeballs will view a given outdoor ad space during a given time period is an important piece of information, another item of information is required to determine whether a given outdoor ad space is a proper investment for the client's advertising dollars. A client needs to know what the view of the outdoor ad space is. That is, what does the motorist and his or her passengers see when driving past the outdoor ad space. Is the outdoor ad space in an open area on a straight section of highway so that the outdoor ad space can be studied by the motorists for several seconds prior to the ad space being passed, or is the outdoor ad space located on a curve and obstructed by another object such as a building, a tree or another outdoor ad space so that the motorist only has a fractional moment to take being offered by the message of the outdoor ad space.
If the client is local relative to the outdoor ad spaces under consideration, then the client can simply drive by each outdoor ad space being considered and see each outdoor ad space for themselves. While this gives the client the so-called bird's eye view of each outdoor ad space, an entire day and tank of gas can be expended in this manner. More problematic is the national account client that is seeking outdoor ad space in one or more locales that are remote from the decision maker's location. In such a scenario, seeing each outdoor ad space first hand is impractical. The salesperson of the outdoor ad space alleviates this situation by presenting photographs of each outdoor ad space under consideration. However, like the real estate agent photographing the property to be sold, the outdoor ad space salesperson strives to have the most flattering photograph of each outdoor ad space, which photograph may not be entirely representative of a motorist's experience with the outdoor ad space.
What is needed is a system whereby a potential outdoor ad space advertiser can gain a sense of a motorist's experience of a given outdoor ad space without the need to for the advertiser to actually drive past the outdoor ad space. Such a system must be relatively simple in design so as to be cost-effective and be easy to operate so that a advertiser can arrive at an informed advertising decision in relatively short order.